Hagerstown man sentenced in child porn case

December 02, 2009

BALTIMORE -- A Hagerstown man who taught middle school in Frederick County, Md., was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for receiving child pornography, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein said Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. also sentenced Adam Windsor, 26, to lifetime supervised release, Rosenstein said in an e-mailed release.

Quarles ordered that Windsor, upon his release from prison, register as a sex offender where he lives, works or goes to school.

Windsor formerly was a music and drama teacher at Ballenger Creek Middle School in Frederick County.

Under a plea agreement, Windsor admitted Tuesday to one count of receiving material shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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According to information in the plea agreement, Windsor paid $79.99 for a subscription to a Web site in order to access and receive child pornography over the Internet, the release said.

As part of Operation Emissary III, which targets users of child pornography Web sites, Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents on April 24 executed a federal search warrant at Windsor's home and seized computers and other digital evidence.

Computer forensic analysis of the digital media seized from Windsor's home revealed he had possessed and received at least three videos of varying lengths, and seven images of minors, including prepubescents, engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and sadistic and masochistic depictions of violence/bondage, the release said.

The items were received over the Internet and remained stored on the computer, the release said.

Three additional videos, each more than an hour long, appeared to have been surreptitiously recorded while minor females were changing their clothes, according to the release. The videos were taken during the time Windsor was working at the middle school in connection with the production of a play, and the minor females were participants in the play, the release said.

Windsor directed them to change in rooms where he had hidden a camera, the release said.

Windsor was scheduled to enter a plea Wednesday afternoon in Frederick County Circuit Court to state charges of five counts of sexual abuse of a minor and five counts of prurient intent relating to that incident, a spokeswoman with the Frederick County Circuit Clerk's office said.

Federal agents observed more than 1,500 pages of stored chat communication under different screen names where Windsor routinely assumed the online persona of a female between the ages of 12 and 16, sought out minor females in chat rooms, and solicited images of minor females naked and/or engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the release said.